# What size were the cables? how long? connectors?

Posted by Matt (93SE) on September 19, 2003 at 14:41:02: In Reply to: Het Matt.. (Re ground on the WRX) posted by Jacob on September 19, 2003 at 13:26:01: 1. the size is important, but the connections will make a much larger difference. You shold be using 10 awg wire minimum, 8 awg preferrably. if you didn't clean the wire ends before you crimped the connections on, you can be losing some connection there, as the oils and stuff from your skin can cause resistance in there. best is to solder them on, but it takes a BIG soldering iron to do cables like that. same thing on the ring terminals and bolt holes. make sure you've got clean metal between them, and then use a dielectric grease on them to ensure that corrosion doesn't occur between the terminals. use steel wool, sandpaper, or a wire brush to clean the spots where you're going to connect. (and yes, you can do it without making a big ugly mess and ruining the finish around it- just be careful.) Umm, as for places to suggest.. look for any places on the engine where there's a sensor or a wire bolted to the block. If you see one, you should add another larger wire to it. don't remove the factory ones, but remove the bolt and add your new one in addition. most of those little guys run back to the ECU, so if they don't send the ground reference back to the ECU, the ECU won't know what the + signal on the other part of the wire is... if that doesn't make sense, I'll explain it more later.. you might also want to run another ground from the ECU also. it gets difficult running it through the firewall, so what you can do it just find the ECU, then run a strap from the case on the ECU to frame ground. but FIRST, make sure the case itself is actually grounded. use a multimeter between the case and ground. if it's over about 0.5ohms, then it may be a floating ground, and grounding the case could cause problems. most cars will have the case grounded to the circuit board inside though, so the resistance to ground will be pretty small. 0.1 ohms or less, depending on how well your meter reads low resistance. Replys: You think using a 8awg for the battery ground is good enough because it's an add on? n/m Jeff92se (92se) 14:49:35 9/19/2003 (7) 8 awg minimum. 4 would be best, but sometimes it's hard to do. --> Matt (93SE) 15:01:50 9/19/2003 (6) So why did you run all your grounds to the head? n/m Jeff92se (92se) 15:28:54 9/19/2003 (1) Block/head, what's the difference?! :) --> Matt (93SE) 15:42:17 9/19/2003 (0) So maybe in my case... Jacob ('03 WRX) 15:16:54 9/19/2003 (3) Personally, I wouldn't mess with the body ground, but it definitely can't hurt. nm Matt (93SE) 15:27:10 9/19/2003 (2) On my car.. Jacob ('03 WRX) 16:18:48 9/19/2003 (1) gotcha. nm Matt (93SE) 16:19:59 9/19/2003 (0)

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: 1. the size is important, but the connections will make a much larger difference. You shold be using 10 awg wire minimum, 8 awg preferrably. : if you didn't clean the wire ends before you crimped the connections on, you can be losing some connection there, as the oils and stuff from your skin can cause resistance in there. best is to solder them on, but it takes a BIG soldering iron to do cables like that. : : same thing on the ring terminals and bolt holes. make sure you've got clean metal between them, and then use a dielectric grease on them to ensure that corrosion doesn't occur between the terminals. use steel wool, sandpaper, or a wire brush to clean the spots where you're going to connect. (and yes, you can do it without making a big ugly mess and ruining the finish around it- just be careful.) : : Umm, as for places to suggest.. look for any places on the engine where there's a sensor or a wire bolted to the block. If you see one, you should add another larger wire to it. don't remove the factory ones, but remove the bolt and add your new one in addition. : most of those little guys run back to the ECU, so if they don't send the ground reference back to the ECU, the ECU won't know what the + signal on the other part of the wire is... if that doesn't make sense, I'll explain it more later.. : you might also want to run another ground from the ECU also. it gets difficult running it through the firewall, so what you can do it just find the ECU, then run a strap from the case on the ECU to frame ground. but FIRST, make sure the case itself is actually grounded. use a multimeter between the case and ground. if it's over about 0.5ohms, then it may be a floating ground, and grounding the case could cause problems. : most cars will have the case grounded to the circuit board inside though, so the resistance to ground will be pretty small. 0.1 ohms or less, depending on how well your meter reads low resistance.